This April, horses have nudged ahead of cats in the battle for charity donations in Britain, according to new data released by leading not-for-profit social enterprise, Giveacar. The figures show that charities caring for horses received nearly 12% of donations made through Giveacar to animal charities, compared with almost 11% to those supporting cats.
Overall, donations to animal-based charities accounted for 13% of the total, with the leading causes being medical charities, with nearly 46%, and children and families charities, with17.64%.
Giveacar’s first Annual Charity Survey shows:
- Animals have a very special place in our hearts. Donations to animal charities outstrip the combined donations to charities supporting ex-servicemen and women, the homeless, the environment, sports and the arts.
- Horses are more popular than cats, judged by the level of donations to specialist animal charities.
- The Welsh donate more to medical charities than the rest of the UK, per head
- The most generous donations are made by the Scots
- Charities devoted to medical care and research attract far higher levels of donation than any other causes.
The survey confirms the long-held view that the English are particularly fond of animals. In fact the English give more to animal charities than to specialist children’s charities.
Giveacar is unusually well-placed to conduct this survey because it covers the whole of the UK and raises money for any registered charity, with no allegiance to any particular cause. Giveacar donations come from the sale of old, unwanted cars, which are given by their owners on the understanding that the proceeds go to charity. Donors are encouraged to nominate the charity of their choice. So far more than 4,000 cars have been scrapped or sold at auction, raising over £500,000 for more than 450 charities throughout the country.
The survey figures are based on analysis of 2,000 donations of old and unwanted vehicles to Giveacar running up to 31st December 2011.
Giveacar’s Alan Chance, who carried out the survey, says: “The survey confirms the popularity of medical charities – in fact three of our top ten charities are devoted to cancer care and research. Hospices attract steady support in their local areas, and all the major animal charities have their devoted supporters.
“However, the figures also show that some long-held views about charitable giving in the UK are well-founded. For example, English donors do indeed seem to give animal welfare a higher priority than many other causes – reinforcing last year’s Charity Market Monitor survey which indicated that whilst overall donations were declining, donations to animal welfare causes were on the increase – and our findings underline the fact that the nation’s wealth is concentrated in London and the south.”
The causes chosen by Giveacar donors, ranked by category, are:
| 1. Medical | 13. Arts |
| 2. Children and families | 14. Horses |
| 3. International | 15. Cats |
| 4. Hospices | 16. Military |
| 5. Homeless | 17. Sports |
| 6. Animal (general) | 18. Birds |
| 7. Famine and relief | 19. Orang-utans |
| 8. Disability | 20. Hedgehogs |
| 21. Rescue | 21= Reptiles |
| 22. Dogs | 21= Otters |
| 23. The elderly | 21= Elephants |
| 24. Environmental | 21= Rhinos |
“We hope that the results will not only help charities to plan their fundraising more effectively, but also encourage many more people from throughout the UK to scrap their cars and donate the money they raise to the charities they believe in most – and, of course, Giveacar is by far the most efficient and hassle-free way of doing that. Just visit www.giveacar.co.uk or call us on 020 0011 1664 and we’ll take care of everything from picking the car up and sorting out the paperwork to liaising with your chosen charity.”
